‘Sovereignty to the people’

From an open letter to President Jiang Zemin, South China
Morning Press, Tuesday 8 May 2001

This is an edited extract from an open letter to
President Jiang Zemin from 18 local labour and religious groups
protesting the holding of the Fortune Global Forum. Their eight
Chinese character advertisement, stating `Sovereignty to the people,
wealth shared by all', appears in Ming Pao today.

To: President Jiang Zemin. With your arrival in Hong Kong to attend
the Fortune Global Forum, you glorify globalisation as the model to
enhance the wealth of the countries in Asia, but what we see is that
the free-market system you embrace does not bring wealth to the common
people. Rather, what we see is transnational corporations stealing the
resources of the world and making workers more vulnerable, their
working conditions more intolerable and the gulf between the rich and
poor more entrenched.

Presently, as China awaits entry to the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), the gap between the rich and poor is widening with a
gini-coefficient that measures income distribution of 0.456, a high
figure, especially for a nation that calls itself socialist. This gap
is reflected in the unemployed population of China that now stands at
140 million workers and the decreasing income of peasants. These
hardships will become even more of a burden when China enters the WTO.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the Government extols Hong Kong's success
because of its free-trade economic system, but Hong Kong's economy, in
reality, is facing a great crisis. Hong Kong's gini-coefficient is
0.52, which indicates that the gap between the rich and the poor is
the greatest among the developed countries. The difference between the
income of the 20 per cent of the highest income families and the 20
per cent of the lowest income families is 23 times. The population of
the poor in Hong Kong is now more than one million people. Their
employment is never secure, and working conditions are getting
worse. Moreover, occupational health and safety in the workplace is
more precarious as more industrial accidents are occurring. We believe
that after China enters the WTO the lives of workers will become even
worse.

Thus, you come to Hong Kong to sell to us and the world this global
free-trade system. You tell us everyone will benefit from free trade,
but the people who really benefit from this system are a small number
of business tycoons while the majority of the poor will become even
more marginalised.

We believe that, as the leader of the country, your responsibility is
to ensure that the nation's wealth is shared by all. Now, since Hong
Kong and China are facing difficult times, only a more equal
distribution of wealth will lead to a real economic alternative for
the poor and will eventually bring social stability, but what a pity
it is that our Hong Kong Government does not guarantee or provide
comprehensive social security for the people. Instead, it promotes the
privatisation of public services and the subcontracting of government
projects, which breaks the workers' rice bowls.

The imbalance of economic power among the people in Hong Kong is
because of the imbalance in political power. Presently,
directly-elected legislators comprise only 40 per cent of the
Legislative Council seats whereas the voting bloc system and the
limitations on tabling private member's bills inhibit the ability of
Legco to monitor the Government. Recently, the Government proposed
that senior civil servants must be more accountable; but without a
directly-elected legislative system, this will only expand the Chief
Executive's power. Meanwhile, senior civil servants will not dare
criticise or disagree with the views of the Chief Executive.

We believe that the people are the master of the country. To actualise
the real sovereignty of the nation, we must protect people's
rights. Sovereignty and human rights are not mutually exclusive;
sovereignty should not override human rights. However, respect for
human rights in China and Hong Kong is still deteriorating. For
example, the voices of dissidents in China are still being silenced,
and dissidents on the mainland continue to be arrested. The religious
freedom of Falun Gong practitioners is also being denied, and the
Public Order Ordinance in Hong Kong further violates people's civil
rights.

As China enters the global economic system, many cities of China are
becoming internationalised. Hong Kong is already an international
city, but Hong Kong's international character is only reflected in the
economic arena. A truly international city is a place of diversity
with diverse people living together. Through this exchange, people
re-create a new culture together. Therefore, an international city
must strive to eliminate all forms of discrimination and to move
towards an inclusive and tolerant society.

An inclusive society must affirm the basic rights of individual
groups, must affirm and respect their unique culture and
contribution. An international city should not seek to strive for
homogeneity but should instead nurture different groups to express
their diversity to make life in the community more vibrant. However,
the policy of the Hong Kong Government moves the community in the
opposite direction and creates divisions. For example, people who
receive Comprehensive Social Security Assistance are stigmatised, and
divisions have been created between Hong Kong's citizens and new
immigrants from the mainland.

Globalisation not only destroys the environment but also, in the name
of development, breaks the natural interdependence between people and
the environment. Very often the most vulnerable are those who are
powerless.